Switzerland partly joins EU's 12th package of anti-Russian sanctions
PARIS. Dec 22 (Interfax) - The Swiss authorities announced on Friday that the country followed the European Union by extending its anti-Russian restrictive measures to additional individuals and entities on the sanctions list, the government's website said.
The restrictions bring "Switzerland in line with the additional sanctions listings decided by the EU in response to Russia's [actions] against Ukraine. [...] the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research imposed sanctions [...] on a further 61 individuals and 86 entities," the statement said.
The measures came into force at 6 p.m. local time on December 21, it said.
The document does not say anything about Switzerland approving of the other provisions of the package, in particular those concerning Russian diamonds.
It does say that back at the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine "imports of diamonds of Russian origin to Switzerland have in any case fallen sharply [..]. At this stage, there are no longer any direct imports of natural or synthetic diamonds from Russia to Switzerland," the document said.
The EU introduced its 12th sanctions package on December 18. The package bans the import of Russian diamonds, including those treated in third countries or transited by Russia. The EU also decided to extend its ban on transit of EU goods to third countries through Russia to any goods that could be used for military purposes.
In addition, the EU has banned Russian citizens from holding executive positions in EU based companies, in particular those relating to the provision of crypto wallet services to Russians.
The EU restrictions were also imposed for the "provision of software for the management of enterprises and software for industrial design and manufacture."
The EU sanctioned 61 individuals including Altai governor Oleg Khorokhordin and Bashkortostan governor Radiy Khabirov, members of the Central Elections Commission, and Ilya Medvedev, son of Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council.
Among the sanctioned 86 Russian companies and organizations are JSC Spetsmash, Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant, JSC Uraltransmash, Federal State Enterprise Perm Powder Plant, LLC OBORONLOGISTIKA, and LLC Rostekhkomplekt, and two television channels, Spas and Tsargrad.